Return
by Violetrose25
Summary: Pepper has realized that she has fallen in love with a dead man, Phil Coulson. So she keeps these feelings bottled up and tries to move on. What does she do now that he's back in everyone's life? (Two-shot. I own nothing. This is an angsty, fluffy, smutty fic. Read review and enjoy!)
1. Chapter 1

**I am writing this because I simply love this couple as well as all the others. Aside from the main couple, there will also be Stony, Thane, Clintasha, and Brucy** (**DarcyxBruce). So... enjoy and please please review. I love feedback, it helps me know how my writing is improving. :)**

Pepper POV:

It had been six months since New York. So much has happened... so much has changed. Everyone had moved into the tower with us, which was, to put simply, interesting. Thor and Steve were having quite a time trying to figure out all the technology of today. Luckily Thor had his lover, Jane, to help him.

She was also here, mainly, as I said, for Thor. Her assistant Darcy came... she and Jane were pretty much a package deal. And, to my surprise, Darcy had formed a loving relationship with our shy doctor Banner. I was happy, he needed somebody to love him for who he is. I mean, everyone loves him like a friend, but... you get the point.

Speaking of couples, not much to anyone's surprise, Clint and Natasha were now in love. Well everyone knew they were before... it's just now they are willing to fess up to it.

But all of that is beside the point.

I myself have had my own set of problems to deal with. Tony and I broke up. And for many reasons. The first didn't shock me. He was now having feelings for Cap. Does that sound surprising in the least? No? Thought not.

The second was that we were just not compatible as a couple. He was too wreckless, unpredictable, spontanious and often irrational. I'm just... not any of those things. So we broke it off and decided to stay friends. But... there is one more reason. It is one that I refuse to tell anyone, because the subject brings back too many painful memories for all the team.

I... had found something out about myself after Phil died. When I heard, I was of course in utter disbelief. Everyone was devastated, but for some reason, I just couldn't stop thinking about it. To be honest, that first night, I cried myself to sleep with missing him.

For a couple months I couldn't figure it out. I mean we were good friends and all, obviously. If we weren't, he wouldn't let me refer to him by his first name, a gesture that used to (when we were together) bother Tony to no end.

"_PHIL? Why is he PHIL_?" He remarked.

Phil and I shared an interesting friendship that Tony and I didn't. For one, we both felt like we were babysitting all the time. That initially brought us closer. But once we started spending more time together, I realized just HOW much we had in common.

He and I were both undermined in our professions. Stuck in the background, shadowed over the heros around us. We had similiar mind-sets of modesty with a little determination to get things done. Though he was a lot smoother than I was. He could simply stand back from an explosion and threaten like he was offering sunday brunch.

He was so polite, considerate, and easy to talk to. And it was late one night, thinking about why I missed him so much, when it hit me.

"Oh god." I sat up.

Putting my hands over my face, the realization of what I just figured out hit me. The gravity of what had happened fully wieghed on my shoulders.

"I'm in love with him." I whispered to the air, crying through my hands.

Falling for a dead man. Oh Pepper, you really know how to pick em'.

* * *

So for several more months, I spent my time hiding this fact, trying to get over it. He was DEAD, after all. It's not like I can really do much with my feelings other than let them go...

"Avengers!" Oh no. Nick Fury came to visit us one fine May afternoon.

"Yes, Nick?" Tony called from the bar.

"Assemble the team. I have some news."

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Jarv, could you be a dear and gather the team up? Tell him the Matrix pirate is here with some news."

"_Right away sir."_ Jarvis said in his charming british voice.

And within a few minutes, everyone was sitting in the lounge. I was inbetween Tony and Natasha, wondering what catastrophe could have happened this time. Perhaps a new villian...

Nick Fury sighed.

"As you all are aware, six months ago, during the New York incident, agent Phil Coulson passed away due to an unfortunate wound on duty."

Everyone was silent. Yes, it had affected them all greatly. He was like their leader, the one who brought them together. Of course I said nothing.

"Well I am here with some news that you might not be too happy about. With me anyway."

"What?" Clint asked.

"Send him in." Nick said into one of those impossibly small little ear devices.

And through the elevator door... Phil appeared before us. For a moment the air was still. Nobody dared move, or even breathe, it seemed. But after a minute, everyone got up to greet their now living leader. He was bombarded with hugs and even a kiss on the cheek from Natasha. Everyone kept asking:

"How are you alive?"

"What happened?"

"Are you really here?"

And he calmed them down. Yet while he explained to all of them how his 'death' was needed to motivate them and that SHIELD has access to advanced medical treatments not known by most people... I just stood there.  
I stood in disbelief that the man whom I grieved for, whom I had... so I thought... hopelessly fallen in love with... was standing here alive and better than ever. And as soon as he noticed this, saw me, he gave me the biggest bright smile that I've ever seen.

But all it did was hurt me. In my eyes, tears welled and rolled down my cheeks. Both out of pain and confusion as well as joy.

"Pepper, are you alright?" He asked me, his face growing concerned.

And in my pain, I had one question:

"How could you do this to me?"  
It just came out. I didn't think about the words I had just said. But everyone else looked confused. So I stormed off. I was tired of it lies. The cover ups. The pain. And right now, all I wanted was to be alone.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: HOPE THIS WAS GOOD. NEXT CHAPTER COMING SOON! ^^


	2. Chapter 2

Coulson POV:  
Pepper had just exited the room, tears in her eyes. My death must have hit her harder than I thought it would. She was my friend, a very good one at that, and I suppose I should have broken this to her more gently.

"She looks pretty banged up about this." Natasha pointed out.

"I think I should go find her." I decided.

Everyone nodded.

* * *

Pepper POV:

I continued my walking, as far away from everyone else as I could. He was ALIVE? All the time I spent grieving, of hiding my pain, and he was ALIVE?! That infuriated me more than anything. Put my love for him on top of all that and one could see what I was dealing with emotionally at the moment.

All in all, I needed time to think.

So I headed to the one place where nobody could bother me... my office.

"Jarvis, lock the door, please." I asked of the robot.

"Right away, Miss Potts." He replied. I heard the click of the lock.

Sighing, I sat back in my chair. What was I going to do now? Tell Phil the truth? Keep hiding it? Ugh, this was confusing me. It was easy to not tell anyone when Phil was dead, but alive... that was a whole other cup of tea.

Of course I was so HAPPY that he was alive. Why wouldn't I be? Just because he lied to us and made us all go through our own personal hell, it doesn't mean that I wasn't relieved to see him. That particular emotion made it even more frustrating to be mad at him! And I was pretty darn good at that!

So far I had only suceeded in giving myself a headache. And furthermore, I decided to go to my room and sleep this confusion off. A good nap usually did me wonders, anyway. But as I stepped out of my office, I heard footsteps approaching me.

"Pepper!" He called.

Crap! It was Phil. Before I could get away, he had caught up to me.

"I've been looking everywhere for you! Guess I should have figured you'd be here." He mused.

Crossing my arms, I gave him a nasty look.

"Pepper... what's wrong? Is it something I said?"

"Was it something you SAID? Phil, you left us high and dry! We thought you were dead for six months."

He looked hurt.

"Well I nearly DID die. That's why I've been gone. I was still in the SHIELD hospital. If I had come out before I was competely recovered, I risked causing myself more harm!" He explained.

For a minute I was silent.

"Well somebody could have SAID something! Knowing you were alive would have made a world of difference."

Phil sighed.

"Yes, well, that descision was not up to me. Besides, if I DID die, then it would have mad it all the more heartbreaking."

"That's a piss poor excuse, Phil. We should have been alerted. Do you know how much I've been grieveing over you?!"

He looked slightly shocked. I... oh crap I said 'I' instead of 'we'.

"You grieved?"

"We all did."

"Yes but you were talking about yourself."

"Well you're my friend! Of COURSE I'm going to grieve over you! And I was finally starting to move on, too. Now you're back, I just don't know what to do." I exclaimed.

Phil put his hands on my shoulders.

"We can still be friends."

"But how am I supposed to trust you?"  
"Just... try. I'm still your friend... nothing can change that. You're an amazing woman, Pepper." He meant that as a compliment of friendship, but still I felt a warmth in my heart.

"And you're a decent man, Phil."

We looked at one another for a few minutes.

"And I'm... I am sorry that I caused you so much pain. I never ment for that..." I put a finger to his lips.

"It's alright." I replied, though I was still hurting.

"No, it's really not. I should have had the team and yourself notified as soon as I had the ability to request it. My mistake caused all of what you're feeling..."

I sighed. I needed to man up.

"Not ALL of what I was feeling was grief, you know."

"Oh? What else?"  
"Well... it seems that... Phil, I don't know how to tell you this. Once you were... dead as far as I knew... I grieved constantly. You were my friend, but I still had trouble understanding why it affected me SO MUCH."

I sighed, trying to come up with the words.

"I... I can't..."

Phil put a hand on my shoulder. "Take your time, Pepper. It's alright."

For a minute I just looked at him. He was by no means a sex symbol (unlike Tony), and he wasn't physically perfect. His face had slight wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, and his body was simply normal and healthy, not buff and bulging (like Thor). But to me, he was still handsome. Tall, well mannered, and easy on the eyes. Not to mention he actually did have a very... appealing way about him. Somebody who carries himself so modestly and yet is still able to fully kick somebody's ass when needed.

And believe me, when you've lived a majority of your adulthood with an arrogant, snarky man who is often flighty... modesty and hard work can be quite a turn on.

And with Phil's comforting hand on my shoulder, I decided words wouldn't cut it. Going against everything I am, everything HE is, I leaned in and pressed my lips against his.

It was a tender, light peck on the lips, but it meant so much more to me. Just feeling him, knowing he was there... the kiss represented how much I missed him, and how much I needed to tell him.

He pulled away after a minute.  
"Pepper..." Phil was surprised.

"I love you, Phil. When I was grieving, and I was confused about why I was SO hurt... I discovered that it was because I loved you. I still love you."

His mouth gaped. I feared that he was rejecting me.

"But I understand if you just want to be friends. I mean if you want we can pretend that this never happened and that I never kissed you or-"

He didn't let me finish my sentence. His arms were locked around me, one hand in my hair. Phil immediatly crushed my lips to his and held me tight.

"I love you Pepper..." He whispered out before I could say more.

Now the kiss became deeper, mouthes opening and tongues colliding. Something told me that this shouldn't go further this quickly, that I should stop this... but that something was quickly shot down by my lusty, Phil deprived side... shot down and thrown into the Mairana's Trench to be eaten by Megalodons.

Phil took off his suit overcoat, as I did with my small half-jacket. His tie was becoming undone, thrown to the floor.

"Maybe we should take this to your room?" Phil asked.

I nodded. And with that, Phil picked me up bridal style, taking me to my bedroom.

* * *

3rd Person: Meanwhile, in the lounge...

"Guys, they've been gone a long time." Tony remarked.

"Do you think they're okay?" Clint asked.

"Only one way to find out." Fury said as he began walking, everyone followed suite.

* * *

Pepper POV:

Once we were in the bedroom, Phil set me down on my bed. He began unbuttoning his shirt, as I unzipped the back of my work dress. After squirming out of it, I unhooked my bra to reveal my breasts.

"You are beautiful." Coulson said.

I looked back up at him. His collared shirt was on the floor, showing off what he had been hiding underneath. Which, to my surprise, was a very nicely toned physic. He didn't have abs or pecks... not big ones anyway... but he did have strong and slightly muscular arms and a lean figure.

"You're sexier than you lead people to believe."

"Well... I don't really want to lead people on about that..." I smiled.

"Show me what else you got."

Phil smiled as he undid his belt, unzipped his pants, and pulled off his underwear.

"Ohh.." I found myself blushing.

He was...BIG.

"Geez Phil..." He gave me an innocent little smile.

I pulled off my panties, spreading my legs as an invitation for Phil to proceed. His part rose, throbbing and nearly purple with desire. I felt my insides become a little wet.

I beckoned him to me.

Phil climbed in bed, and mounted me. We looked at one another, sweetly and lovingly. And then he slid inside of me.

"OH!" I cried out.

Oh it had been so long... so very, very long since I'd had a man. TOO long. Phil moaned into my hair, thrusting deeper.

"OH... OH... OH... Ohhh Phillll..." Each new wave of pleasure hit me, sending stars dancing into my vision.

"Do-Don't... don't... stoooppp..." I cried breathlessly.

"Pepper... Oh, oh Pepper..." Phil cooed my name into my ear.

The pace became quicker, the friction increasing... he was hitting the sweet spot... can't think...

"OOHHH GOD PHIL!" I cried with climax.

He came a moment after, filling me with hot release.

"I love you so much, Phil."

"I love you too, Pepper."

"Don't ever leave again." I pleaded.

"Never." He said.

* * *

The Avengers followed the trail of the moans and gasps to find...

Phil and Pepper sleeping together, a slew of clothes casually strung across the floor.

"I think we should go." Clint said.

The rest nodded. And on the way back, Tony whispered to Steve:

"Give you any ideas, Cap?"

Steve blushed.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: SO, THAT'S THE END OF IT. HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED! ^^


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